All the Bands

The image I get when listening to the Tranzmitors is an expert telephone switchboard operator - the type who would plug in lines by hand after the call’s placed - only with a time machine. So, you’re getting a call from 1977: Buzzcocks, Gang of Four, Undertones, Jam, all hanging on one line, but cross-switched to the present day without losing clarity, without static. - Razorcake magazine

Think the White Stripes after a long spell in an asylum and you're about halfway there. Quirky and slightly unhinged, they at times they sound like a building falling down or a guitar being catapulted into a giant packet of metal spaghetti, but usually they sound more like a demented version of the Standells going at it in bed with the Kinks whilst the Byrds try to run over Jonathan Richman with Billy Childish strapped to the bumper. Fuelled by a passion for real rock’n’roll they combine loud guitars, dirty bass, powerful drums and aggressive but skewed vocals to make an adrenalin-charged live show that you won’t forget in a hurry.

The Adverts were one of the best of the original wave of punk rock groups and in his current live act TV Smith will always bow to the crowd and play some of the old familiar tunes - Gary Gilmore’s Eyes, One Chord Wonders, Bored Teenagers, No Time To Be 21, and all of them still sound great. Despite it being more than 30 years since he first played those hits, the man still puts in a solid, exciting and exhilerating performance. Of his last CD release, Big Takeover said: “The simple truth is, Smith is gracefully graduating in to Punk's true elder statesman and one that's managed to escape the baggage of his past or that of any other subsequent or prior generation. This recording shows he's doing so in a plaintive manner, without compromise, without ever forgetting about that bombsite boy with the fire in his eyes.”

Columbus, Ohio trio playing amazing country-tinged garage rock that recalls The Replacements at their rowdiest or Jeff Tweedy at his most depressed but with songs better than anything you've heard in a while. If you like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt or Wilco you'll love Two Cow Garage.

With their lurching sea shanties, debauched murder ballads and whisky-soaked gypsy stomp, they’ve been compared to the likes Tom Waits and Nick Cave; others point out the last gang in town swagger of the Clash and the hellhound blues that John Lee Hooker first dragged out of the swamp.

The Urges combine the perfectly executed pop of The Kinks with the more rugged blues edginess of Them but that doesn’t begin to cover it. Yes, they are derivative but for all that they take their lead from that bygone era when popular music was uniformly fresh and fun, their sound, style and attitude is pretty much their own.

These Camden Town based underachievers (which is meant as a compliment) make arty garage rock'n'roll like that of the Television Personalities with Ramones and New York Dolls riffs. Imagine the sound of Kim Deal snogging Justine Frischmann and then the two of them going out to punch Courtney Love in the face and you're getting close. The songs are short, sharp and poppy, just how they should be, with a catchy garage band swagger about them.

Formed early in 2007, the Vermin Poets are Billy Childish, Nurse Julie and Neil Palmer (formerly of The Fire Dept).

Teenage rock'n'roll terrorists from the small town of Bury St Edmunds on a mission to kung-fu kick all the boring bands out of existence! Real raw and vintage sounding garage-rock'n'roll! Their single, Don't Try To Tell Me, came out on Dirty Water Records earlier this year. Their debut album, "Back on the Streets", came out on Dirty Water Records last year. A second single, You Lie, is out now and brand new album "Psychotic Beat!", which heads in a more sixties garage direction away from the Childish-inspired punky debut - released on 15 December - has been getting great reviews.

The barefoot drummer conjures a pounding and rolling of dark atmospherics, a railroad train of desolation, and stomps on to a feisty but disciplined close. The shoeless front man does all the rest. Pedals allow him to contribute bass lines in the form of sparing throbs, lonesome track-trundling and modulated hums. He provides vocals where needed, careworn drawls and agonised wails. But the all-powerful voice here is the guitar. The guitar speaks with intricacy and anger. It speaks about hearts torn apart. It speaks in bluesy, closely picked hooks, plucking and jangling. It rasps, squeals and twangs. This is a rare duo that is able to leave the audience awestruck. Everyone is aware that there is genius in the room, an encore is demanded. And so the dark blues makes a brief return, complete with guitar pyrotechnics and a tormented plea: “Oh Lord, have mercy!”

Influenced by the soul bands of old, these four mates from Essex have been described as British rhythm’n’blues by the NME. With a flavour of early Beatles, some northern soul dancefloor thrust, killer basslines and more than a touch of mod in both looks and sound but with the songs sounding fresh and vital. Lead singer Rick Nunn has the perfect voice, rough in all the right places. Vinny Vinny construct a set like a DJ. No gaps, no silence, no moody reflective singer songwriter chat half way through the show. They don't stop til everyone in the room is twisting, shaking and gyrating their way into tomorrow.

Regulars in the audience at Dirty Water, this trio play primitive rock’n’roll that'll make you think you're listening to a Back From The Grave Compilation. They have fun on their minds, fuzz in their lustful hearts, and dark thoughts in their soul. They recreate that time when young Americans came out of their sleepy towns, high on illicit substances, and set about changing the world with a 4/4 beat. Employing a heady mix of The Stooges, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and The Velvet Underground, they create an orgy of foot-stomping noise to soundtrack an imaginary psych exploitation movie.

Not giving a flying fuck if they’re soundtracking anyone’s life except their own, with missives from behind enemy lines, The Vipers aren’t a rock and roll band , they’re a weapon of mass destruction, military tight and louder than bombs, executing savage but brilliantly executed bursts of angry distortions. It’s an exciting, spine tingling spectacle built from the essence of a riot, but destined for much, much bigger things.

The Voola is influenced by Screaming Jay Hawkins, Bo Diddley, Cab Calloway, Hound Dog Taylor and, not forgetting the inimitible Esquerita - but all filtered through the punk rock attitude of The Cramps.

When Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders quit the New York Dolls in 1975 they got ex-Television bassist Richard Hell to start a new band, adding Walter Lure on guitar. And so the Heartbreakers are born. With Billy Rath replacing Hell when he started the Voivoids they relocated to London where they join the Sex Pistols on their aborted 1976 tour and released the “Chinese Rocks” single before putting out their debut album, L.A.M.F. on which Walter wrote/co-wrote some of the finest Heartbreakers tunes. Walter Lure is also known for The Waldos, whose 1995 album "Rent party" was produced by Andy Shernoff (of The Dictators). A legendary figure of the New York punk rock scene, this is a VERY rare trip outside of the NYC area!

Starting out as "insanely energetic young kids" in Ipswich (says BBC Suffolk), they've become "bona-fide agitated pop masters" who still "bounce around like the accidentally destructive teens they used to be”. Fronted by the charismatic Luke Littleboy this is a Specials meets the Clash rama-lama punk rock group that plays pop songs in the same way that the Blockheads or Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster are pop. This is a band with ideas, with principles, not just another fashion parade.

Coming over from Madrid, Spain, armed with a set list to get you jumping around like a crazy person, they include songs from the likes of Tom Petty, Eddie Cochran, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Lowe, Cock Sparrer, Real Kids, for example, but played in their own garage/punk rock'n'roll style. And, hey, if you remember the likes of Los Chicos and The Hollywood Sinners, to name but two, playing at Dirty Water, then you'll know that all rock'n'roll bands from Spain are worth checking out!

Heavy space rock mixes up just the right amounts of psychedelia with hypnotic grooves to make up an intoxicating other-worldly madness.

These guys look the part but they also  have the sound to go with it. They’re loud and brash. They got the voice of the Pistols and the sound of the Clash. White Man Kamikaze tear through their set list at a break-neck speed, stopping in between only to provoke the audience. One rarely sees instruments and equipment violated in such a manner! Their performance makes you want to pick a guitar up simply to throw it!

This group is made of of some familiar faces from the Bordeaux rock’n’roll scene, including members of the Pneumonias, Mean Things and Flying Over. On their latest record they play one DMZ cover - and that's the best way to describe the sound - because they all sound as if they could have been DMZ songs. In other words, this is ferocious, trashy garage-rock influenced by the Seeds and the Kinks but with a late seventies punk rock ethic.